A professionally-taken photograph, generally used by actors and models to show their good looks to potential clients, is called a head shot. Most of the pictures we use on the blog were originally head shots or publicity stills created to promote a specific film that would have been included in something like a media kit. And the images adorning the walls of the Music Room, if they are not taken from media kits, are almost certainly head shots. Actors from all eras are presented on the walls of the Music Room, including some who continue to make pictures today.

Mel Gibson, one such actor, hangs next to many of our other celebrities. Born in New York in 1956, Gibson's fame came while living in Australia, with the Mad Max franchise of the early-1980s. His success led him back to the United States, where he became a distinguished director with such films as Braveheart, but also something of a heartthrob with roles in the Lethal Weapon movies. He has embraced controversy with his epic 2004 film Passion of the Christ and some very inappropriate things he has said off camera over the years. Nevertheless, he is still in the spotlight, an icon of the modern age of film.QUESTION: Gibson has spent some of his money on land around the world. In which of the following countries does he NOT own land (as far as is known)?A) AustraliaB) FijiC) Costa RicaD) CanadaANSWER BELOW

FRENCH TOAST. This day in 1763 marks the official end of fighting in what has become known as the French and Indian War in the American colonies. The name is a little confusing, since the British colonists and military were fighting the French, not the French fighting the Indians. But, if you think there is no place to acknowledge this anniversary in a blog associated with America, you could not be farther from correct. It was this war, and the long-term impact of it, that led directly to the Revolutionary War that would bring independence to the thirteen British colonies along the Atlantic Ocean in 1783, only twenty years - and a lot of fighting - later.

WAGNER'S HART. Celebrating his eighty-fifth birthday today is actor Robert Wagner. He was considered something of a heart throb in the 1960's and '70's, Wagner got roles in a number of popular films, including 1963's The Pink Panther and The Towering Inferno nine years later. But he is likely best known for television, with starring rolls in To Catch a Thief and Hart to Hart. His two separate marriages to actress Natalie Wood also brought him a certain notoriety, especially after their second marriage ended in the tragic death of Wood in a boating accident. She would have been 77 this year.

QUOTE: You ask anybody what their number one fear is, and it's public humiliation. Multiply that on a global scale, and that's what I've been through. - Mel Gibson